By EMMA UNA

CALABAR — TWO months after the Appeal Court sitting in Calabar, Cross River State upheld the ruling of a Cross River State High Court, sacking the Obong of Calabar, who was subsequently re-intalled by the kingmakers, another paramount king in Calabar, the Muri Munene of Efut has been removed by another state high court.

The state high court, held that for failing to submit himself for another selection process ordered by the Cross River State Government on September 21, 2012, after the Efut Combined Assembly had elected him as the Muri Munene- elect of the Efut, Muri Mbukpa, had excluded himself from the position of the King of Efut.

Justice Elias Abua held that “By the Traditional Rulers Law of Cross River State, a person can only lay claim to being a chief, paramount ruler or king after being given a staff of office by the state and if somebody fails to comply with the directives of the state, the selection of such a person cannot be upheld.”

According to Justice Abua, the state has a duty to intervene in the dispute in Efut by calling for another selection process, which Murnee Efiong Mbukpa failed to attend and therefore, his request to have the selection process quashed cannot be granted.

“The first selection conducted was not the selection proper, so government had to give a directive for another selection, which had to be obeyed, so what the applicant had asked for cannot be granted,” Justice Abua said.

The court in its ruling, said that the directive of government for the selection of  Muri Munene was in order and that directive was not a decision but a directive for the right thing to be done and same cannot be quashed by the court.

“What government did was issuing of notice for the selection of a Muri Munene and that is not a decision but a directive which can be quashed by an application for review.”

Mr Nkanta Nkanta, counsel to Muri Effiong Mbukpa, in his reaction, said that he had to study the judgment first to know the next step to take, since it was a very long ruling.

Muri Mbukpa, the Muri-elect for the Efut Kingdom had  in September 2012, asked the court to quash the decision of government to conduct another selection process after he had been selected by the Efut Combined Assemly, the body of kingmakers of the Efut Kingdom.